Use bluetooth audio on Raspberry PI

[marigo]

If you use mplayer with the "-softvol" option then you can control the volume from the command line with "9" or "0".

I am searching for an option to control the volume within domoticz with a slider button like the dimmer option. Somehow you have to parse the keystroke "9" or "0" to the mplayer proces but at this moment I am searching on how to accomplish this.

Maybe anyone have some experience to get this working?

EDIT:
This is a Lua script with a "dimmer" to control volume, but I can change it only once:

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commandArray = {}

if (devicechanged['TEST'] == 'Set Level') then
        v = math.floor(otherdevices_svalues['TEST'] - 20)
        os.execute("mplayer -ao alsa:device=bluetooth -af volume='" .. v .."' /mnt/music/top40/*.mp3")
        print("radio volume " .. v)
end

return commandArray

In the log I see that the script is running for more then 10 seconds which means a loop somewhere.

Can someone advise?

EDIT2:

I have found something to control the volume and play the next track with FIFO and this is working within Domoticz

https://pbrisbin.com/posts/controlling_mplayer/

I have made three "one-push-buttons" and three scripts

1- volume up

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#!/bin/bash
sudo echo volume 1 > /root/.mplayer_fifo &

2- volume down

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#!/bin/bash
sudo echo volume - > /root/.mplayer_fifo &

3 - next track

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#!/bin/bash
sudo echo pausing_keep_force pt_step 1 > /root/.mplayer_fifo &

You need the following line to play your audio via your bluetooth adapter:

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sudo mplayer -ao alsa:device=bluetooth -softvol -af volume=-20 /mnt/music/03-Albums/*.mp3 -shuffle &

[fransiefrans]

In order to get the izSynth working, I had to connect my bluetooth speaker first.
Therefor I used the BTaudio Wiki but it looks like the bluez package changed.
I can't get it to connect with my speaker.
Is there someone who got it the work with the new bluez?

[Skaven]

Hello, I'm wondering if somebody can explain to my how I setup this on my raspberry pi 3 white the integrated Bluetooth chip on raspberry pi 3 board, can I use the integrated Bluetooth chip? If yes can you explain how to setting it up?

[pvm]

Hello, I'm wondering if somebody can explain to my how I setup this on my raspberry pi 3 white the integrated Bluetooth chip on raspberry pi 3 board, can I use the integrated Bluetooth chip? If yes can you explain how to setting it up?

When following the wiki., what output / errors do you get?

[curious]

I am trying to follow this wiki on my Raspberry 2.
Unfortunately I am stuck .

At first I get a message after entering

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sudo apt-get install bluetooth bluez bluez-utils bluez-alsa

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Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
Package bluez-alsa is not available, but is referred to by another package.
This may mean that the package is missing, has been obsoleted, or
is only available from another source

Package bluez-utils is not available, but is referred to by another package.
This may mean that the package is missing, has been obsoleted, or
is only available from another source
However the following packages replace it:
  bluez

E: Package 'bluez-utils' has no installation candidate
E: Package 'bluez-alsa' has no installation candidate

Should not be a problem, but after that there is no audio.conf nor is there a bluetooth-agent (command not found)
I use jessie-lite

My bluetooth device is recognized when entering lsusb

What to do

[freijn]

Very interesting this one as well.. Will read..

[tontze]

https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/view ... p?t=133961

Works with older bluez ?

[DewGew]

Is BTAudio out of date?
I tried to install bluetooth bluez bluez-utils bluez-alsa but i get this:

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Package bluez-alsa is not available, but is referred to by another package.
This may mean that the package is missing, has been obsoleted, or
is only available from another source

Package bluez-utils is not available, but is referred to by another package.
This may mean that the package is missing, has been obsoleted, or
is only available from another source
However the following packages replace it:
  bluez

E: Package 'bluez-utils' has no installation candidate
E: Package 'bluez-alsa' has no installation candidate

Is there an other way for this?

[ledfreak3d]

yep no longer works wiki needs to be update

bt audio works fine from the command line
but will never work for me when run from a lua script
cant find why.

not on a rpi3 or on a oppc+ board

[solo111]

yep no longer works wiki needs to be update

bt audio works fine from the command line
but will never work for me when run from a lua script
cant find why.

not on a rpi3 or on a oppc+ board

Good day! I join you .. I have the same trouble. My script does not start when I press the button. I read that this is due to the rights of the user. But I have a user in Domoticz by default. And what user do you have?

[ledfreak3d]

prety sure its not a user acount issue tried root and pi does not make any difference

[AllesVanZelf]

edit: 30 juli 2019 - see Thorgal789 post below and my post right after that.
I started with BT-audio from the wiki page also, but I soon have found out that this does not work anymore. I assume, because of some changes to the bluetooth packages. I’m certainly not an expert, but did get a little bit further.
I want to use this bluetooth speaker to make some alert sounds as feedback.

I used pulseaudio. I believe this is preferred audio system by newer distro’s.

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sudo apt install pulseaudio pulseaudio-utils pulseaudio-module-bluetooth

sudo nano /etc/bluetooth/main.conf

(/etc/bluetooth/audio.conf is not used anymore)

add (or change if exist):

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# This section contains general options
    [General]
    Enable=Source,Sink,Media,Socket

Change/add the following configuration in your /etc/pulse/system.pa config.

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Sudo nano /etc/pulse/system.pa

# Modify: /etc/pulse/system.pa

### Automatically load driver modules for Bluetooth hardware
.ifexists module-bluetooth-policy.so
load-module module-bluetooth-policy
.endif

.ifexists module-bluez5-discover.so
load-module module-bluez5-discover
.endif

and in this same file change, or add the line:

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load-module module-native-protocol-unix auth-anonymous=1 socket=/tmp/pulseaudio.socket

The /tmp/socket makes it possible to connect to pulseaudio with different users.

I added/changed the same lines in /etc/pulse/default.pa

In /etc/pulse/client.conf
change, or add the lines:

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default-server = unix:/tmp/pulseaudio.socket
autospawn = no

I had to remove all files from: /home/pi/.config/pulse/ and /root/.config/pulse/ to make this work.
Especially the client.conf file in there.

In /etc/pulse/daemon.conf I changed/added the line:

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 exit-idle-time = -1
 allow-module-loading = yes
 enable-memfd = yes

First stop pulse audio:

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 pulseaudio -k

Next, Start pulseaudio at boot as service (or daemon? I’m not sure about the difference)
For this part I used this source: link )

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 sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/pulseaudio.service 

And change or add:

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[Unit]
Description=PulseAudio system service

[Service]
Type=notify
ExecStart=/usr/bin/pulseaudio
Restart=on-failure

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Now enable and start this unit file by running the following commands:

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 sudo systemctl --system enable pulseaudio.service
sudo systemctl --system start pulseaudio.service 

It should be running now. You can check the status of the service with the command:

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 sudo systemctl --system status pulseaudio.service

I got an error about a cookie file. I will report how I solved this later.

Now add the user who needs access to pulseaudio to the pulse and pulse-access groups:

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sudo usermod -aG pulse,pulse-access <username>
And I added root too.
sudo usermod -aG pulse,pulse-access root

change <username> with pi or your normal username.
Changes to groups are effective after you logout and log back in.

Bluetooth:
On ubuntu:

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sudo add-apt-repository ppa:bluetooth/bluez
sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade
sudo apt install bluez bluetooth
sudo service bluetooth restart
sudo /etc/init.d/bluetooth start

or try using the method donwloading from kernel.org as described here: link

I'm using version 5.49

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bluetoothctl -v
5.49

I also installed Bluealsa. But now I'm not sure if this is nescesary.
source

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sudo apt install bluealsa

Type:

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sudo bluetoothctl 

then press enter and input the administrator password.
Next, enter

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[Bluetooth] agent on 

and press enter. Then type

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[Bluetooth] default-agent 

and press enter. Type

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[Bluetooth] scan on 

and press enter one more time. The unique addresses of all the Bluetooth devices around will appear and look something like an alphanumeric XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX. If you make the device you want to pair discoverable (or put it into pairing mode), the device nickname may appear to the right of the address. If not, you will have to do a little trial and error or waiting to find the correct device.
To pair the device, type

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[Bluetooth] pair XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX 

XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX is the device bluetooth address. Change it with the address of your speaker (for example)
Connect to the device, type

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 connect XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX 

Then:

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 trust XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX 

type 'exit' to leave bluetoothctl.


In order to pair up with Bluetooth devices, you need to add, or change the following text to the file /etc/dbus-1/system.d/pulse.conf:

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 sudo nano /etc/dbus-1/system.d/pulseaudio-system.conf

Check if this file exist. In my case there where two files. One pulse.conf en this one. I merged them to pulseaudio-system.conf.

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<!DOCTYPE busconfig PUBLIC
 "-//freedesktop//DTD D-BUS Bus Configuration 1.0//EN"
 "http://www.freedesktop.org/standards/dbus/1.0/busconfig.dtd">
<busconfig>
        <policy user="root">
                <allow own="org.pulseaudio.Server"/>
                <allow send_destination="org.bluez"/>
                <allow send_interface="org.bluez.Manager"/>
        </policy>
        <policy user="pulse">
                <allow own="org.pulseaudio.Server"/>
                <allow send_destination="org.bluez"/>
                <allow send_interface="org.bluez.Manager"/>
        </policy>
        <policy context="default">
                <deny own="org.pulseaudio.Server"/>
                <deny send_destination="org.bluez"/>
                <deny send_interface="org.bluez.Manager"/>
        </policy>
</busconfig>

According to this same source I changed/added in the file:
/etc/dbus-1/system.d/bluetooth.conf

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    <allow send_interface="org.bluez.ThermometerWatcher1"/>
    <allow send_interface="org.bluez.HeartRateWatcher1"/>
    <allow send_interface="org.bluez.CyclingSpeedWatcher1"/>

 <!-- allow users of bluetooth group to communicate -->
  <policy group="bluetooth">
    <allow send_destination="org.bluez"/>
  </policy>

It’s easiest to reboot the system now.

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sudo shutdown -r now

After this reboot, find out the name to use for the bluetooth device to make some noise.

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sudo pacmd list-sinks

(I still cannot get info without sudo. That I do not understand)
find the: bluez_sink.XX_XX_XX_XX_XX_XX.a2dp_sink” part. We will need this addres.
I use paplay like this:

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paplay -p --device=bluez_sink.XX_XX_XX_XX_XX_XX.a2dp_sink --volume=65536 /home/pi/sounds/dingdong-1.wav 

volume 65536 is volume set to 100%. So be careful. You could set it in a range of 0 – 65536. paplay does not play mp3’s. Mplayer can.
Another method I use is by using mplayer, like this:

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mplayer -ao pulse::bluez_sink.XX_XX_XX_XX_XX_XX.a2dp_sink /home/pi/1.mp3 -softvol -volume 25 

This is working well for me, but just for a while. After some time my bluetooth speaker disconnects. After that I had some trouble reconnecting.
In the next post I solved this.

Edit: some corrections
edit: 29 juli 2019 - made some changes

[AllesVanZelf]

Keep Bluetooth connection alive
I did some more research and might found a way to keep bluetooth connection to the bluetoth speaker open.
But not sure yet if this will be the solution on the long run.
All feedback is more then welcome!

source 1
source 2

Make a script to reconnect the Bluetooth device:

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 sudo nano /home/pi/bin/autoconnect-bluetooth-device.sh
with content:

#!/bin/bash
bluetoothctl << EOF
connect XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX
EOF

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 chmod +x /home/pi/bin/autoconnect-bluetooth-device.sh

I save my own scripts in this /home/pi/bin directory.

The next script will check if the connection is still alive, and when not – start the last script.

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 sudo nano /home/pi/bin/connect-bt-devs.sh

#!/bin/bash
address="XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX"
while (sleep 1)
do
  connected=$(hcitool con) > /dev/null
  if [[ ! $connected =~ .*${address}.* ]] ; then
    /home/pi/bin/autoconnect-bluetooth-device.sh
  fi
done

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chmod +x /home/pi/bin/connect-bt-devs.sh

The next step creating a service to keep checking.

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sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/connectbtspeaker.service
with content:
[Unit]
Description=keep connection Bluetooth speaker alive
Documentation=https://www.domoticz.com/

[Service]
# Ubuntu/Debian convention:
Type=simple
ExecStart=/home/pi/bin/connect-bt-devs.sh

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Before the last step, make sure the device/speaker is paired and connected. Then enable the service:

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 sudo systemctl enable connectbtspeaker.service

sudo systemctl start connectbtspeaker.service
sudo systemctl status connectbtspeaker.service
sudo systemctl stop connectbtspeaker.service

I’m not yet sure if the next command is nescesary.

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sudo systemctl preset connectbtspeaker.service

preset to set the service to be auto-started at boot, if the local policy permits it.
Connecting was not enough. The speaker go to sleep. for this I found another solution.

Update:
I found out from here: source, that it is possible to keep the bluetooth connection alive with a hcitool spinq command.
Now put this simple script into /etc/init.d/

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sudo nano /etc/init.d/bluetooth-alive
#! /bin/sh
hcitool spinq
exit 0

Then execute these.

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sudo chmod +x /etc/init.d/bluetooth-alive
sudo service bluetooth-alive enable
sudo update-rc.d bluetooth-alive defaults
sudo service bluetooth-alive start

Edit (29-7-2019):
If I do something silly or stupid, please tell me!! But the speaker is up and running for a few month now.

[Thorgal789]

I m sorry, I can't test it now, I have uninstalled my alexa application for the moment (and I had similar problem too, and I haven't tested so much complicated script), but be sure it will be usefull on my side ^^.
Thx for all.

[AllesVanZelf]

I have edited the above post a little, because I had some new findings.
I also have found out that I have to (re)start bluetooth after pulseaudio. else it will not work here.

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sudo service pulseaudio restart
sudo service bluetooth restart

[AllesVanZelf]

hmmm still no stable connection. Anyone could review my settings?

[Thorgal789]

Nothing to see with your method, but on my side I m using Bluealsa.
My speaker is connected 24/24, I can say if the connection is stable during a week, because I move it a lot for test ATM. But I m just using this command to send sound.

For Wav, realy stable

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aplay -D bluealsa:HCI=hci0,DEV=11:75:58:E4:71:30,PROFILE=a2dp sound.wav

for mp3, instable

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mpg123 -a bluealsa:HCI=hci0,DEV=11:75:58:E4:71:30,PROFILE=a2dp sound.mp3

I already have some problem with pulseaudio.

[AllesVanZelf]

Hello Thorgal789,
I'm very interested in this. Could you tell me what your configuration files are?

[Thorgal789]

All by defaut ^^.
Sound use rapsberry speaker by defaut like a defaut configuration.

The speaker configuration is on the command line and by-pass the defaut configuration, I think there a way a set it by defaut, but I had lot of problem with sound core and I don't want to broke it again so I m using this solution.

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sudo apt-get install bluealsa

Take care, perhaps conflicts with pulseaudio., don't remember all the requierement.

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pi@raspberrypi: $ amixer -D bluealsa
Simple mixer control 'TimeBox-mini-audio - A2DP',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 127
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 127 [100%] [on]
  Front Right: Playback 127 [100%] [on]

I just use bluetoothctl to pair the speaker (and configure bluetooth connexion), not sure using the raspberry GUI is working all the time.

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pi@raspberrypi:/var/run/bluealsa $ bluetoothctl
[NEW] Controller B8:27:EB:C3:32:96 raspberrypi [default]
[NEW] Device 11:75:58:E4:71:30 TimeBox-mini-audio
[TimeBox-mini-audio]# info 11:75:58:E4:71:30
Device 11:75:58:E4:71:30
        Name: TimeBox-mini-audio
        Alias: TimeBox-mini-audio
        Class: 0x240404
        Icon: audio-card
        Paired: yes
        Trusted: yes
        Blocked: no
        Connected: yes

[AllesVanZelf]

Earlier I ran into trouble with Alsa and bluetooth and bluez-alsa. I did know that bluealsa is in repository now. Maybe it was there all the time
I removed pulseaudo:

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 sudo apt purge pulseaudio pulseaudio-module-bluetooth

(first made some backups of configuration files).

installed bluealsa as you said:

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sudo apt-get install bluealsa

created a file /etc/asound.conf

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sudo nano /etc/asound.conf

with content:

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defaults.bluealsa.service "org.bluealsa"
defaults.bluealsa.device "5D:57:C3:CB:0D:B3"
defaults.bluealsa.profile "a2dp"
defaults.bluealsa.delay 3000

And now I cam play files as:

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 aplay -D bluealsa /home/pi/soundfiles/3.wav

It survived a first reboot.
Thank you very much Thorgal789 for pointing this out to me!!

Esit: The last smiley is a: - D